Observations from Devs vs. Caps tonite

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The seats I got were awesome, so good that I didn't really mind that I wouldn't be able to see Elias, Gio, Martin, Madden, Bergfors, Corrente, or Jordan Parise. I literally was in the seat with my knees touching the glass to the box connecting the two benches. I actually was close enough to see every players stick and the stiching on the backs of their jerseys. I yelled, "nice haircut, Gomer, during the intermission," and he looked at me!

Anyway I saw a whole bunch of arseholes in person that should have no business wearing the Devs logo, but, hey, it's preseason. That being said, I tried to focus my attention on a handful of potential players to make my postgame report as good as possible, so here goes.

1. Oduya-I start with him because he is the current lovefest player going on here, and to my observation, with pretty good cause. He played on the second pairing for the most of the night with Andy Greene as his partner. PK #2 with Pando and Sarge up front, great skater, didn't really need to pass too much to move the puck based upon the talent level on the ice, (some obvious NHL talent, some obvious AHL/ECHL talent) but his skating and puckhandling were excellent. He was one of the few that looked like an NHLer and not a player fighting for a spot.

2. Greene-If he doesn't make the team, it's solely because his salary is 850k, because he skates strongly, which Lou loves, and was always in the correct position on defense. Can't say much about his passing, as mentioned above, but he can skate like a mofo and really handles the puck with good skill and sense. If I were to go out on a limb I would equate his game to one like Ohlund, great skater, great puckhandler, OK offensively.

3. Zajac-Makes the team as 2nd line center IMO. He played the entire game on the second line, extra foreward on the PP, and second PK team with Marsh/Parise. He needs some work, but, IMO, will be fine with some game experience with Jamie and Patty. Also, his recuperative ability on the PK is all that scouting reports said it was. The boy can skate, will be a terror on the backcheck.

I just mentioned the ones that I saw that were, IMO, NHL ready, any questions I'll answer if I can.

Minivari(sp.) is huge but looks like a Special Ed kid on the ice.

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1. Oduya-I start with him because he is the current lovefest player going on here, and to my observation, with pretty good cause. He played on the second pairing for the most of the night with Andy Greene as his partner. PK #2 with Pando and Sarge up front, great skater, didn't really need to pass too much to move the puck based upon the talent level on the ice, (some obvious NHL talent, some obvious AHL/ECHL talent) but his skating and puckhandling were excellent. He was one of the few that looked like an NHLer and not a player fighting for a spot.

I went to Hersheypark yesterday to go to the park (the Storm Runner coaster...all I have to say about that ride is DAMN! One of the best and scariest coasters I've ever been on.) I was going to go to the game (one of the main reasons I went to Hershey), but after having watched that painful 2-0 Ranger-Devil preseason disaster, knowing that a lot of our better players weren't going to get a lot of ice time and wanting to get home so I could watch my Patriots play at 8:15, the wife and I decided to skip the game. (Lots of rides and too much chocolate didn't help matters.)

We hit horrible traffic on I-78E (construction), so I not only missed the kickoff, but then got to see one of the worst games the Patriots have played during the Tom Brady era. And now I see that the Devils turned in a solid game and a victory to boot. Sheeeeeeeeeee-it!

Oh well...glad those of you who did go enjoyed it. How's the arena? It looks nice from the outside. Seating capacity?